[Garry Hartshorn]

Currently I am delving into some issues with an older system that is not performing that well and looking into options to replace this system. I would like to hear of experiances good and bad with the latest generation of equipment.

[comship]

In our Yachts we have tried both KVH and Seatel products. The KVH antennas are not performing well in high seas. On the other hand the SEATEL antennas are excellent in all weather/sea conditions

[K1W1]

Hi,

Gary,- Is it just the antenna you are looking at changing or the whole setup, decoders, distribution etc?

IMHO- Sea Tel gives ok bang for the buck. Orbit are great but are sadly let down by their near non existent Customer Service dept when you are unlucky enough to need service.

I was recently involved in a project where we had 3 Orbit antennas specified for the TV and VSAT. Poor service support tales from my contacts in the business had me encourage the Client to change to Sea Tel so far these have gone ok, I have previously had major issues with the TAC 92 Controllers.

[Garry Hartshorn]

It's been a long and ongoing saga dealing with the Sat TV system to date we have already changed out all the decoders and distribution system. That part of the system seems to be working pretty well now. The basic issue at the moment is that the antenna does not reliabley track satilites, works great when we are at a dock. Since the system has been installed onboard there have been untold visits from several technicians to deal with the issue, usually with the same result, nothing or very little found to be wrong it works great for a week or so then once again the antenna starts searching the wrong part of the sky. We have even gone to the point of sending the TAC92 back to the factory to be checked over and repaired but even then they could not find much wrong, I believe that there was a small amount of corrosion on a couple of pin connectors.

I have found tech support a Seatel to be a bit of a hit or miss affair it all depends on who you get on the day. But regardless of who you get they are hindered by the company policy of having to sell parts through their service network which is fine when you are in a major centre. But when you are out cruising around somewhere that gets expensive real quick and you end up more often than not with a service tech who is only qualified to be a donkey mechanic.

Anyhow we have decided to install a KVH M7 unit early in the new year, so I shall let you know how it goes.

[K1W1]

Hi,

What size KVH Unit ( Dish Diameter)are you going to be using?

Please post back and let us know how it goes when you have this upgrade done.

[Garry Hartshorn]

I believe that the M7 is a 24" dome with a 19" antenna, personally I wanted to go with the larger dish but we ran into some mounting issues.

[pj1475]

I just put the KVH M3DX on my boat and have been quite happy with it thus far. The only problem I have encountered is that Directv keeps changing the sat configurations particularly with hi-def channels

[dancin dave]

I found with my M3 that if I don't power up the units for as short as a 2 week period I need to call direct tv to activate. Also I find at times that I'm aiming the remote in many different locations at times to change the channel. It's pretty funny when I aim the remote in the opposite direction of the receiver and the channel finally changes. Not to often but occasionally and it gets very frustrating. The dealer claims there is no adjustment to the I.R.

otherwise we are very happy with it.

[Codger]

dancin dave
Look for other sources of IR which might be causing the strangeness/interference.
Weeks of intermittent odd behaviour including volume changes were eventually tracked down to an IR beam blasting around when the elevator door was open.
The door was 60 feet away and at right angles to the gear stack for the theatre.
That was only part of the solution. There was also an IR beam for a motion sensor that overpowered the remote when it reflected off someone walking in from the rear of the theatre.
It was the interruption of a scene in Resident Evil with Milla Jovovich that made this glitch a high priority for diagnosis and solution.

[MI8]

Codger,
thats sometime dificult to localis problem of IR emision.
main is to never forghet that we are speaking about light emission...
first cause of IR is ...the sun with his ful range of light frequency.
lots over source exist and can disturb/cover your RC.
don't forghet that IR reflection is not the same than for the visible light spectrum (coulor and texture of the material are important and can absorbe or reflect IR)
for my own experience,(infrared traduction system and event multichanel covering) the best to localise a source is an irfrared headset receiver.
certainly the Koss old fashion is the best as he dont have a noisegate, so he will not switch off at low level.
and be patient....

take care

MI8